I’m not one of those girls who thinks we should all walk around in turtlenecks and loose fitting pants. I think the body is beautiful and accenting that beauty is awesome and a woman’s individual choice. I don’t mind when women take their clothes off in film (I’m talking nudity when relevant and necessary to the story - not T & A). But women taking off their clothes for men’s magazines strikes me as an exposure of the body for the sake of a larger audience. Sexy = more famous. And in this case, it’s not just the body. It plays into the men’s fantasy of the female as home maker/sex kitten/subservient.  It seems to me that it’s all about the career and nothing to do with sexual freedom.  That’s my judgment. I have no idea what actually motivates people to do this since I’ve never spoken to any of them. But because it plays into existing stereotypes of women and objectifies them, I take issue with it. This is not to say if she was in an office environment, I’d think much more of the image. But the setting combined with the “service with a smile” vibe I get from the image really bugs me.

Now for the turkey corpse. The idea that a woman with a corpse in her hand is sexy is beyond me. This poor animal was used as a prop in a film shoot for the pure titilation of men. And yes, I take issue with that. Plus the idea of dead flesh as sexual turns my stomach. Normally you’d see a woman holding a pie or some kind of sweet dessert. For this shoot, they chose a turkey. You would think that a dead body on set would be a bit of a turn off…but apparently not.

Anyway, thanks for reading my gripes about this image. If you have any thoughts, I’d love to hear them.

Texas alone has 1,100 licensed breeders with approximately 87,000 deer and a total economic impact of $652 million, according to a 2007 Texas A&M study. Breeders often sell deer at livestock auctions, where the price for a good buck can reach five figures (occasionally a champion buck, just like a prize bull, can sell for half a million dollars). Deer-breeding is the fastest-growing industry in rural America, according to that A&M study.

You’re probably thinking what I’m thinking. Why the hell are they smuggling deer into Texas when so many are being bred within the state? Well, the prices are so high for these bucks that smuggling in large animals (the bigger, the better the prize. Ugh) Time says, “And so deer are smuggled in from northern states like Minnesota, where the stock is bigger and smugglers offer cut-rate prices. This way, smugglers skirt Texas laws that have closed the borders to non-Texas-bred deer.”

This article made me feel ill. I truthfully had no idea that deer were being bred for what can only be described as canned hunts. What else can you call it when an animal is bred to be hunted? I’m not sure if they are put in enclosed locations, but still, it’s not traditional hunting. I recommend reading the full article. It’s very interesting…

Where am I going with this? Well, according to all the places I checked, animals are considered thats, keeping company with inanimate objects.

Here is one description I found:

“That” can refer to animals, things, and people and should be used when the clause is restrictive. As mentioned before, “that” can be used to refer to human beings but is not the preference of most writers and editor.

They say about who:

“Who” (as well as its inflections “whose” and “whom”) can only be used to refer to people or entities equated with people (like deities and occasionally pets). It should never be used when referring to things or animals.

In my writing I naturally bought into this, because it’s what I learned. But in the last few months I’ve been doing my best to shift my mindset into using the word “who” for all animals - not just animals that are important to people. Why is this important? I believe that each animal is an individual/sentient being, and not to be confused with an inanimate object. If my cat Cthulhu is a who, then so is the squirrel hanging out on the tree outside my window. So a sentence would read like this: “The squirrel who won’t stop eating my birdseed, is just trying to keep his body fat so he doesn’t starve this winter.” Grammatically, that sentence is incorrect. But that’s how I’m doing it from now on. A small rebellion of grammar attempting to show that animals are individuals. After all, humans are animals too.

Alanis doesn’t mention animals. She sounds like a health vegan, which is fine by me. Of course it’s nice when a celebrity talks about compassion. But all the same, Alanis said in an interview with OK! Magazine some great things about the change in how she feels in her own body.

She said:

I feel like a 12-year-old! I’m back to what I was born to be, at my best. I used to get out of bed in the morning and things were aching, and I just thought, this is what happens when you get into your 30s. But now I jump out of bed and have so much energy; I feel very alive. Even after a workout, I feel like if I rest a little bit I could go out dancing all night, so that’s exciting. I have no more aches and pains, and my allergies are gone, too.

For all those men and women who want a lasting program to stay healthy, a vegan diet is the perfect choice. She read Eat to Live by Dr. Joel Fuhrman.

Check out Alanis’ full interview here…

So here is a short list (please add more in the comments if you can think of any!)

1. Lisa Simpson
2. Penny from Dr. Horrible (It’s excellent - watch it here in only 45 minutes)
3. Spock from Star Trek
4. Charlize Theron’s character Sara Deever in Sweet November
5. Elle Woods from Legally Blonde
6. Ozymandias/Adrian Veidt from Watchmen

So, I was considering what these characters have in common - they are all ethically beyond reproach. Each is seen as a ‘do gooder.’ None of them are violent and all of them are considerate of others and care about other causes. Not just animals. Well, Spock doesn’t really have typical emotions but he certainly is ethical. And Adrian Veidt is (WARNING: sentence contains spoilers - skip to next paragraph if you haven’t read the graphic novel) the smartest man alive from Watchmen, who kills a lot of people (he does it to stop a third world war but still), so his do gooder status is in question to say the least.

But I did want to get a human male in there. I guess I could have chosen Apu from The Simpsons, but that’s two characters from the same show. Maybe Elijah Wood’s character from Everything is Illuminated? I digress.

Although sometimes vegetarians/vegans are portrayed as extreme, more often a character is made vegetarian because the writer wants them to appear compassionate - morally superior even. And what better way to be compassionate than to remove animals from your diet. So thank you television and movies for having such a large number of awesome veggies.

My only sadness is that the role of vegetarian/vegan in films and tv are really given mostly to white women. It would be really nice to see a wider variety of people - not just young, white, females as vegetarian/vegan.

And like I said - if you think of more please add them. And if you think of any counter arguments (bad veg characters) please add those too…

Click here to view all the ads….

I have to say, I wish that the AR movement had the money to advertise in every venue from Time Square to Vogue to the walls of subways. Mercy for Animals did it in Chicago with some great anti fur ads. And COK puts pro veg advertisements on MTV. And I seriously think that’s the way to get people interested and thinking about the issues.I’d love to see this little canine fellow, with his neck fur missing, pasted all over mid town…

Anyway - Marley and Me. A cute film. I’m a book snob so it’s not the kind of book I would normally read or the kind of movie I would usually see. This holiday season I’ve seen Slumdog Millionaire, Milk and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Gran Torino was next on my list but that will have to wait until tomorrow. Marley and Me was cute and it was nice that a movie reflected on the life of a dog and how an animal in the home can impact a family for the better.

What I really loved about the film was that no matter how unruly Marley was, his guardians never ever raised a hand to him. Even at his worst, no form of abusive punishment was used. So kudos to the film for being animal friendly. As for the use of animals in films - well that’s a different question. But I do believe all those puppies were adopted by crew members at the end.

I hope you all had a great New Year and have a happy and healthy 2009…

Don’t think you can do it? Well, you don’t have to change your entire diet over night. Try being veg 2 days a week for a month, then 3 days for another month and increase your veg days by 1 each month until you find that you really don’t eat mean anymore.

Lots of people are becoming vegetarians and vegans. The options in supermarkets and restaurants are better than ever, and the baking…yes the baking is absolutely delicious…

Click here to get COK’s fabulous veg starter guide…

Be safe and happy tonight….and remember, think veg for your resolution:)

LeSportsac has all vegan products - and without being a vegan company. It just so happens that the materials they use are veg. Pretty cool, huh? No wonder Stella wanted to design for them…

Click here to see all of Stella’s designs.

Japan is one of the biggest whaling countries and does so in the name of science. However, although they claim science when hunting these animals, the whales end up on plates. Although The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society targets Japan, and due to press, you might think Japan is alone in it’s whaling ways. Please note that many countries whale: Click here for a list and how many whales are killed by each country…

Click here to read the full article on the back and forth that happens between the Sea Shepherds and the Whalers…